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We conducted 3 studies to explore cultural differences in global versus local processing and their developmental trajectories. In Study 1 ("N" = 363), we found that Japanese college students were less globally oriented in their processing than American or Argentine participants. We replicated this effect in Study 2 ("N" = 1,843) using a nationally representative sample of Japanese and American adults ages 20 to 69, and found further that adults in both cultures became more globally oriented with age. In Study 3 ("N" = 133), we investigated the developmental course of the cultural difference using Japanese and American children, and found it was evident by 4 years of age. Cultural variations in global versus local processing emerge by early childhood, and remain throughout adulthood. At the same time, both Japanese and Americans become increasingly global processors with age.

This study examined children's interpretations of and responses to insincere praise in a situation involving failure and explored the association between these responses and the maturity of their theory of mind. Seventy-two young Japanese children (mean age = 5.70 years, SD = 0.61) completed a test battery that included tasks designed to assess responses to teacher feedback (i.e., insincere praise, no feedback) in hypothetical failure situations, theory of mind, and verbal ability. The results showed that children who failed experienced higher levels of positive emotion and self-rated performance and showed lower motivation to persevere when they received insincere praise following failure, relative to those observed when they failed and received no feedback. In addition, relative to children with less mature theory of mind, children with mature theory of mind responded more negatively to insincere praise following failure. The evidence indicated that the effects of insincere praise could differ depending on the maturity of children's theory of mind. It highlights the importance of understanding individual differences in theory of mind in parenting and educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent studies have shown cross-cultural differences in theory of mind (ToM) between children in Western and Eastern cultures, little is known about cross-cultural differences pertaining to social correlates. The present research investigated cultural variations in the relationship between sensitivity to criticism and ToM. Japanese (n = 76) and Italian (n = 76) 6-year-olds completed a sensitivity-to-criticism task (either the teacher condition or the peer condition), second-order false-belief tasks, and a verbal ability test. The results replicated previous findings of an association between ability rating after teacher criticism and ToM in both countries. Cultural variation was found in emotional response and motivation after teacher, but nor peer, criticism. Japanese children responded to teacher criticism more positively than did Italian children. Moreover, Japanese children who failed the second-order false-belief task were more motivated after teacher criticism than were Italian children. These results are discussed in relation to differences in cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined children's expectations of the interpersonal consequences of apparent crying. Twenty-eight 4 year-olds and 32 5 year-olds were presented individually with four story tasks in the following design: 2 (crying: apparent, real) × 2 (condition: harm, harmless). The story protagonist seemed to cry in the apparent crying task, and actually cried in the real crying task. The protagonist expressed crying because he/she was harmed by another character in the harm condition, and was personally motivated to elicit another person's pro-social behavior in the harmless condition. Children were asked about the protagonist's crying and about the other character's feelings and behavior. The results showed that only 4 year-olds more often judged that apparent crying in the harm condition elicited another's pro-social behavior, compared with in the harmless condition. Five year-olds judged that when the apparent crying character felt sad or the apparent crying elicited another character's empathy, the apparent crying led to pro-social behavior. These findings suggest that there is a developmental change between ages 4 and 5 in understanding of the function of apparent crying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary on 'Friendlessness and theory of mind: A prospective longitudinal study' by Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, and de Rosnay ( Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 1-17) we reconsider the link between early mastery of theory of mind (ToM) and social relationships by focusing on connections with other related areas of socio-cognitive ability such as emotional competence, ToM development across age, and the effect of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]